Spencer Ackerman joins the Guardian as National Security Editor

New York, May 8, 2013 -- The Guardian announced today that it has hired Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) as National Security Editor, formerly a senior writer at Wired and blogger for the acclaimed defense blog, Danger Room. The announcement was made by the Guardian's US editor in chief Janine Gibson. Bringing over a decade of groundbreaking, award-winning reporting experience, Ackerman will join other high-profile Guardian journalists, including Glenn Greenwald and Ed Pilkington, to help shape and grow its independent coverage on a broad range of national and international civil liberty and security issues.

Ackerman begins at the Guardian on June 3 and is based in the DC bureau as part the Guardian's growing presence in the nation's capitol.

"Spencer is a must-read reporter with extraordinary knowledge of his patch. His passion and determination to break stories chimes perfectly with the Guardian's long-held commitment to accountability and transparency. We're all excited that he has decided to join our growing US team," said US editor in chief Janine Gibson.

"I'm thrilled to join the Guardian, one of journalism's most prestigious institutions," said Ackerman. "We intend to widen the aperture of national security coverage, a necessity in an age when everyone's pocket contains a surveillance tool and social media can threaten governments. The Guardian's commitment to rigorous reporting and risk-taking storytelling provides an ideal platform to innovate," he added.

Ackerman joined Wired in 2010, where he won a National Magazine Award in 2012 for his reporting on Islamophobic training material within FBI counter-terrorism. He has reported from the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan, from courtrooms in Guantanamo Bay and several US naval warships and submarines. Prior to Wired, Ackerman was a national security writer at the Washington Independent, Talking Points Memo (TPM) and other publications, and his writing has appeared in news outlets ranging from Playboy to Washingtonian. He frequently appears as a national security expert on MSNBC, and often appears on NPR, CNN, Al Jazeera, and other TV and radio programs.

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